it. >> presint obama also in virginia, near the naval base. the heart of the military establishment in the tidr. know, during campaign season, you always hear a lot about patriotism. well, you know what? it's time for a new economic patriotism. an economic patriotism rooted in the beliefhatrowi our ecyinh strong and thriving middle class. >> at the u.n., israel's prime minister is about to speak today with an ultimatum to iran. a day after iran's president denounce military threated from israel in s speech to the general assembly. plus -- done deal. the replacements gke r nfdefers rike deal to end the lockout. and magna what? britain's prime minister david cameron flunks british history when letterman asks him to explain what magna carta means in english. er tla m - >>ou're testing me.

>> it would be good if you knew this. >> it would. >> there's that latin. good day. i'm andrea mitchell le in new york. waiting for israel's prime miertais tat u. genal aembly any moment now. joining me first, former u.s. ambassador to israel, dennis ross, who held top jobs in middle east policy including iran and three administrations, the obama white house. a midder middle ea dipma fobcnd washington institute. dennis, let's talk about what netanyahu signaled he's doing today, demanding an ultimatum to iran on its nuclear program something the administration the white house, has insisted o ighere?amou >> imnot sure there is as wide a gap as you think. i believe what you're seeing is an agreement on the objective of making certain that iran cannot ha nuclear weapons and then

also i think agreeing that you have to come up with some kind jee prevention has a meaning and it doesn't lose its content. i do think where the prime minister's coming from is, he wants to put, i think, a premium on having a clear definition of what's t point past which if iranross t partilar line or tloesh hohreshold you'r longer in a position to prevent them. my guess he'll focus on why it's unacceptable for iran to have a nuclear weapons capability and he'll speak in effect to the world about coming together on notusav -e diplomacy but coming to an understanding when you say enough is enough. >> dan senor from the romney campaign and others have been on this program saying that the administration is projecting weakness by signaling -- by sayingxplicitlyhey doot that's what president obama said on "60 minutes" this week,

saying does mitt romney want to start another war. has the president signaled too affirmatively he does t want to exert milary force, thate wopr toidt a all costs? >> well, i don't think one wants to create the impression ta you want to avoid the use of force at all costs. i think you want to create the impression, which e president has done, that the option is on the table tt we have the means to act on that option but earllo ihe preference. i'm sure that governor romney also wants diplomacy to be the preference. the question is, is there enough pressure put on iran to change its behavior. no question you have unprecedented pressure on it economically. underpinning that economic pressure with the kind of military options that will convince the iranians that if they're not prepared to reach a diplomatic outcome, they're the ones who pay the bigger price. >> the administration has

ceainly indicat that they wiot tatn having a nuclear weapon. but how will we know? is the intelligence really that accurate? we've made intelligence mistakes before. >> i think it's an excelle question. it's clear that we know a lot about where the are inermsf enrichment. it's less clear that we know precisely where they are, how you take highly enriched uranium and turn it into a bomb. i think we should have a humility when it comes to feeling completely nfident, we'll know exactly where they are all me in w a good position to have some time but i think we also have to define what prevention means by deciding what's the point at which we would lose a high level of confidence on our part that we know how quickly they can move and whether or not we cou stl pnt themrom having present a fate acome plea to the world.

question you're asking is an imrtant one. >> there's assumption the united states has military might wipe out tuclear prrams. but there's -- there's an argunt tt ramaking, these things are hidden, underground. how do we know wheer we would just be slowing them down and delaying the inevitable? >> well, i think we have to -- here again we have to wreck flies a certain fact. neither the ud es n is ces t iranian capacity to build a nuclear weapon once and for all. we can destroy all of the facilities in the infrastructure that they have and it would be very costly and takehem time to rebuild it, but they have the know-how and engineering calio ilater would be destroyed. one of the reason it's important to create a context where the international community believes everything's been done that could be done and you've exhausted all of t diplomatic options andiven the economic sanctions sufficient time, you need that so that the world says, yo knowat?

ianad chanc to prevent the use of fce against them, they didn't take it because they really want a nuclear weapon. we need to create the kind of context that demonstrates unmistakably we went the extra mile and if we had to use force, in fact, we were left with no oindho circumances, then iran remains under severe economic sanctions that will extend the time that you set them back, if in fact there's no alternative to the use of force. >> dennis, knowing what you know, you've dealt with the iranians, you kw thayatlah is o o has authority to change direction if they're moving towards creating a weapon, do you think some military action by israel and/or the united stas is inevitable? >> i don't think it's inevitable but i think iran's behavior is making it more likely. e ias he to make.iha they have to realize that, in fact, the economic pressures they're facing as severe as they are are not the whole story. at some point, if they don't

respond, the president said in his speech that the time is not limited, the time's not without ts, me i ets inout. the iranians need to take advantage of the fact that while there's still time and space for diplomacy, they need to act on that sooner rather than later. >> do you think that the president was making political decisions in not meeting with any world leaders, not meeting withetanyahu buthe w sclissecause he was planning to be campaigning today while netanyahu is in new york? >> you know, i think that the president didn't make a -- i think he was focuses on larger sets of questions. he came to new york, he gave a speech, i think his focus this time around at the u.n. was on maecndending a message, a very clear message, to those in arab and muslim countries that, when you are in fact feeling that you are agreed by somhing done through a video it's understandable to take offense, it's t fee anurn itnto

violence. i think he didn't need, at this point, to have 60 bilaterals at a time when most leaders who would be coming here themselves realize that the u.s. is in an election campaign. >> dennis, while we've been sitting here,abba the stinn adha t t e podium, after him one other speaker, and then the prime minister of israel. if they keep to the current schedule, what president abbas has been saying is that he has only one conclusion from the faile of talks, talks that you led in several administration prior toth t isrl no longer accepts the two-state solution of israel and a neighbor palestine right next door. let's listen to a littl bit of what mahmoudbbas is saying to the ud on >>ility military colonial on ma packaged under new napes the unilateral plan for a so-called

state with provisional borders. irepe, prisio a ste with provisional borders, this is a project that we categorically reject from az because it shall not bring about peace. mr. president, israel refuses t end tcciod refuses to allow the palestinian people to attain their rights and freedom and rejects the establishment of the state o palestine. israel is promising the palestinian people a n catastrop catastrophe, a new set secret service -- set back. >> it's clear there has been not only no progress but setbacks that the hope of two states, the hope of a niasotion, thatou h foro many, many years, has really been

stalemated. what has to happen to get this back on track? >> you know, i think you're putting your finger on what is the biggest, single problem right now. right now on both sides there is a losofth aos o belief i a two-state outcome. the palestinians look at this and think the israelis are not committed to two states, israelis look at palestinians and think the palestinians are not committed to two-state outcome. i think what's required right now is to fus on how could one restore fai bnh side's comtment to producing two states? what steps could the israelis take that would send a message to palestinians they remain committed to two-state outcome? what steps could palestinians take to y ty'reommied t stoue? th fus needs to be on those kinds of steps, those kinds of actions, thoseinds of statements, that each side could use aan agenda for discussions that would allow them to demonstrate, again to ea

other, that they remain ghhe disbelief is youthpprch weighing anything else and creates a context, makes it very difficult to move towards peace. >> dennis ross, thank you very much. we'll will be carrying prime minister netanyahu'speech live as wel ea iw , idre oba anmittomne kicking their swing state campaign into overdrive. both charting from ohio to virginia, the state that could be the must-win i november. joining us now, chris cillizza, managing editor of post politics.com and per axand owthmncampgn. lcome to both. chris, first of all, how important is virginia? they've gone, both from ohio to virginia. they seem to be tag teaming it, the two weekends. >> reporr: yea i would say, draa, we've talked about this, thevisits, wherey s thes so carully calibrated to spend it in media markets and states that they absolutely need.

ohio, mitt romney, i think needs and is behind. virginia, i think mitt roey mitt romney needs and is behind. one thing to remember about virginia a ate, before barack obama won in 20vedy last democratic presidential candidate come win it was lyndon johnson in 1964. it's remarkable that we're talking about virginia in the terms th we are. there's been a big demographic shift with norern virgia a i remaable, is a pce where barack obama deserves credit for expanding what was the democrac map in the early 2000s, virginia, north carolina, th competitive this time. he won both of them in '08 as well. >> peterleeru'een with the cdidate today. talk about his speech. he had an intligence briefing from the cia today. interesting this traditionally before the debates, he's been doing a lot of debate prep, but foreign policy is taking somewhat more of a roll in the

tentn t it. >> reporter: yeah, andrea, that's right. his second intelligence briefing. first one taken a week ago in los anles at some of the headquarters there. you know what's interesting to note is the fus in virginia, suatin tresint nily sequestrion, the looming defense budget cuts effectively linking defense and national security to the economy which has been his primary message. the campaign has been flooding reporters with numbs and he at seqstraon cs would effectively have an impact on 168,000 jobs, costing 168,000 jobs in the state. he said 136,000, 68,000 among small businesses spifically. and he was hereh peoen thti btlegund w he said have been to battle before. these are people in the military community, a lot of veterans here at american legion hall

where he was speaking that he hopes will support his message of american strength through strength and not throu weaknesslily. >>av b a lite puzzled by the campaign's posture on this because it was a republican and democratic agreement, the automatic triggers for these automatic cuts from sequestration if they didn't agree a budget deal, and they didn't agree to a budget deal s thisas somhing t idanhn boehner agreed to, reluctantly. i'm not clear on how mitt romney separates himself from his republican colleagues on the hill who went along with this. >> well, i posed a simar question to people here. first he said clearly, if i ever come predent iiltoit i ask t peoe supporting him today, i asked about the poll numbers, they don't believe the polls now. the only poll that matters is november 6th. but when you ask them specifically about the situation in american governnt right now they said the real issue that's hangg ov mitromn ist ftplha, they

detest, congress, the fact that nothing gets done in washington and as one man put it, he thought it hung around mitt romney's neck like an albatross because the house of representatives, of course, has a republica majority. teinrehi ss, what was pren spo to a larger crowd this was appeared like a specific messaging event where romney was speaking to a smaller crowd, like you're running for mayor of a jor city or governor of the state of virginia. only 200 people here today. >> the other thing that's ry reing to wat in e la 48 hours how focused they are on defending against the 47% remark from the videotape that came out last week because this is something that was very clear in his cments to our colleague, ron allenn oo yeda les watch. >> don't forget, i got everybody in my state insure, 100% of the kids in state have health insurance. i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care

about the people of the country that that kind of record. >> he's tryg toay te n't cbout the 47% and he's embracing health reform, the massachusetts health reform which he ran away from during the primaries. you've coveredim from the beginning, you know. he's talking about empathy and caring and health reform. we have not heard this from hi bere. >> reporter: no, no, i think that's right. he hit the words care, empathy, he used that language multiple times yesterday. this is what effective campaigns do when they try to get their message across they hammer you all day long. -yr-older in the wee mments rerri to e losses of lives and to the or chaos and crises in the middle east as bumps in the road he met with me and some other reporters, they had a teleconference that they told us about, they spoke about th message on the stump. romney's trying to make sure atssas ro that he cares about americans, he's well aware of the

perception that is sort of sticking to him as a result of those 47% comments and the fact that a lot of people view the president as the guy they would quote/unquote like to have a beer with. on that topic, a short time o, were linitoc interviews taking place one of the questions asked of mitt romney was, what do you think of the nfl referees coming back and i think his answer was i sure hope they do. he wasn't aware theyad come back. i asked about e patriots game, 'sote ssfa didn't watch it. it's mosts like that he tries to show he connects with people. on football, that's one place he won't. >> he wasn't ake when they finally reached the deal. it's understandable. it's a tough campaign schedule for all ofyo rill,kon early voting. virginia one of the 29 states where there already is early voting under way. how are both campaigns trying to reach the early voters? >> well, i would say, nbc's first read, your kind of early morning primer, put together by

nbcpocahoht w right. atwo-minute ad that president obama is running in virtually every swing state and that -- certainly every swing state that's voting early and that ad's the kind of ad you run in the last week of the camign. why no thba camign understands everybody voting on november 6th is antiquated. lots of people vote early including earl states. they're saying we need to get our message now. this is where the obama team lieves, it's hard to prove thesegsecvedy thro aunchf numbe at you, we knock on this many doors, made this many phone calls. the obama team believes the grassroot organization they built in '08 is alive and wl and kicking, and better than anything that mitt romney can have bui in that same time. dtil der t supporters to the polls in these early and absentee times and build leads for barack obama.

we'll be monitoring it. i know you will be, too, monitoring what early vote looks like. remember, november 6th, yes it's election day, but lot and lots of vot willet befe that >> how does early voting change the dynamic if these are the committed base supporters, how does pocketing them early make a big difference? >> well the same way that you know the last five minutes of a game is critically important. if you've gotee ghe of o am, it's less critically important. you need to bank as many votes as you can, take advantage of the fact we're in hopes of get more people to vote, to widening the ways you can do that. you have to take advantage, state atouav t kw alof state laws and take advantage of saying to your people, don't wait, go and do it. it doesn't matter if it's the middle of september, early october, november, go and vote. we want you in there. and they can cross tse people off. if you dough of that you

enhet a h twweeks of the camign talking to the 6%, 8% of people undecided and still haven't made their mind up, you try to win them over and get them to vote for you. >> good to get them in to vote before something bad happens. you never know what kd of events c skepamn tadnclungebat performances. thank you so much, chris cillizza. up next, economic reality economic with steve rattner. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ yodo ♪ something to me ♪ that nobody else could do

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h ree in aay jt twpills. good eye.

i believe, that as a nation, we're moving forward again. t 're not whe w neeto b we've got a lot more folks who

have to get back to work. we've got a lot more work to do to make the middle class secure again. but the question is, whose plan is better for you? resiman vgini beach today. he still faces two more monthly jobs reports before election day and continued unrest in overseas markets. but the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" indicates a big bump up in the number of people who el the cotry's headed in the right diction. is that feeling rooted in any hard facts? joining me in new york, steve rattner, wall street financier and former head of the president's auto task force. and our frid and colleague on "morning joe." >> yes. >>umr ofics re enooki at tell us why there's a reason for people to begin to feel that things are moving in the right direction, despite the unemployment numbers and everything else that'sot coming together.

>> a lot going on in politics and lealk t st of cig butherareomenterting economic things going on. if we want to take a look at a couple of charts. the first chart to put the optimism in perspective and see whe we came from, where we're going. back in 2009, about 42% of the people tught thathe ecomy gnger buthen it wt essentially straight down into the sum of 2011 the economy was weak. since then it's been going up again. here at %, sharp upward turn ce. lelior optistic why? a bunch of indicators one can look at but i've chosen to look at a few that reflect what affects individuals. first and foremost, of course, incomes. incomes, as we know, have been under a lot of pressure. and you can see here, that inmes went down for quite e. thseaispol income after inflation, after taxes. look at a lot of different measures.

it shows it going down. it has been going up steadily. went down again last summer along with the economy. but particularly these lastix months, income growth has bee strong. if y tal the polal nt they will tell you that the trend is important as level. people have been feeling they have more money in their pocketbooks than before. >> first of all, a sharp decline which tells you why things were so bad politically for president obama,or everyone else. andhen turpwar is sharp as well. >> yeah. i think we want to put a caveat on all of this, as you said, there's a lot of sluggish economic indicates, unemployment, gdp,o on. again, i think the pception of a lot of people is the trend is what is impot, as much as anyt, d th ts tyood. he one that is important to individuals, house prices. we had a massive slide in house prices going back to well before president obama was put in office. and we had a few upward bump as long the way. but just this year, and this may d vrpuprd bumph here, we'

the largest rise in house prices year over year in two years, 5.6% so far this year. i think a growing sense whether it's new home sales or housing starts a lot of the data have led economists, and therefore it gets transmitted into individual to el tt hog ua mg real recovery now. and that's enormously important to people because moat of their wealth is in housing. >> a huge backlog of inventory in the housing sector which is still pulling things down? >> certainly there's that. certnly feclosoi. yoo at inventory numbers they are coming down. and the pace of home sales is going up. people can sell their houses now. and so it's been generally a -- look everything is compared to what? itas compared to a pretty rougperi but it's clearly gettbe. the's lahiha ctpeop morand more, the stock market. not everybody owns stocks directly but people have 401(k)s, increasingly, and like

the nfl referees are going to have at some pnt along the way here, and that affects them rectly. what itoesn't often get meneis hrana thrfnc t stock market has been during president obama's tenure. it's more than doubled and it's up about 14%, just this year so far. and so if you have some of your money in 401(k)s, in a mutual fund, you feel beer. you feelwealthr, y're nsnd h bn going up consumer confidence number have been going up. people he a general feeling we're off the bottom. they know it's bad but we're off the bottom and that's reflected in the poll numbers and the president's polical situation. >> wshld point out ca, unemployment is still high among minorities, young people, among other groups, we're talking about african-americans, hispanics, young people, the unemployment rate is sky high still isltff i not widely

spread throughout the society, that the income gap is spreading. >> right. and the long-term unemployed problem is terrible. we're not short of economic problems. i'm not sheer to proclaim that you know suddenly we're robust again. but if you want to uerstd whe est'inet hell apart from the campaign and who's running a better campaign, i think it's rooted to economic facts, which is modest uprns in aumber of the indicators. >> steve rattner wit real facts, thank y ver much. loveheha >>th todd akin staying put, will top republicans start funding his campaign? stay with us. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the y with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain.

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it's all that sweet ever needs to be. n necse setness naturally. it's all that sweet ever needs to be. wthe future of our medicare andr electiosocial security. for... man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it meanfor me. social security. ma ind and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affect seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org the fight to control the senate could turn on what happens in missouri where republican nominee todd akin has defied party leaders and is staying in the race past that deadline to get out. rrirf the campaign pat committee. thank you very much for joining us. all eyes are now on what your

counterparts on the republican side are going to do. they have not yet committed to money but they have been saying that they are supporting todd akin, and we heard from roy blunt, senatorn miri bl sornmissouri, endorsing him. what do you think is happening out there? >> well, look, what todd akin said was so offensive that there were different kinds of re using the term legitimate and saying that somehow women have fees ainstape s they won't get pregnant, so offensive to me and to women in missouri, women and men across this country, and so offensive the top republican officials up and down said, we can't support this man. what changed in two weeks that they now say thass poonthrtt they will support him? perhaps put money into the race, i find that extremely offensive and i think people in missouri and across the country will as well. >> isn't it basically that this could be the race that turns the senate? i mean if you'reitti in

eirirhe shoes, would you not take a hard look at this and decide, well, we've got to support them, haven't democrats supported candidates that didn't fit into the national democratic campaign strategy just caus every race is so important? >> well, lete bell cl ju f weeks ago, every one of the republicans said that what he said was so offensive and how he said it was so offensive that they could not support him. and they are going to have to answer to the queson about why is it not offensive toy? i thas limate question that is going to be asked, not just of the republicans who now are going to endorse him or put money in, but of every republican candidate who is running, who is being funded by the outside organizations as well, as wt do you stand for. >> why do ththces reportedly as tight as it is, based on what we're hearing from the ground in missouri? claire mccaskills a respected

senator, she's had political problems backome but why should she be in a competitive racegainst someone who has said these outrageous tngs? l m tk a year and a half ago when i was asked to take on the chair of the democratic senate campaign committee and there wasn't one person really who thought that we had a chance of keeping the majority. a lot of things have changed since then. in missouri, todakin's commen. urun people looked at democrats and saw that we were fighting for things that claire mccaskill wants to fight for, the middle class, making sure people have an opportunity. claire is getting that message out. i believe she's going to win and i believe she'lle backere as ghr vs w all senator to hel u have said this election is. >> which races are you most concerned about? would bob kerrey in nebraska be top of the list? >> i will tell you this, we have deye0ts up on he demra

the republican side. even that that climate with many red states, like nebraska, like missouri, like montana we have a clear shot of not only keeping majority but doing well because of what i said. people understand that pa ahe conservative republicans have put up as candidates is not what mainstream america wants. mainstream america wants to make sure their kids get an education, they have acces to tioc surity system torevahe meet inside restrains that paul ryan thinks works but doesn't work for america. this is real questions on voters' mines and that's changed the dynamic of the election and we're seeing great candates on our side with thatessage who are going to win in november. >>nd i massachusetts, republican scott brown has apologized for what some of his aides did in appearing on this video where they were mocking

elizabeth warren for her nativemerican heritage. that is apology sfit d ould te ihi campaign? >> certainly it's up to the people of massachusetts to determine that. they have watched this race, they have seen scott brown tell people to take a look at elizabet warren to determine her heritage, which is frankly offensive tome, peoe in maachutts llaket determination. but i will say this. again, we have a race where elizabeth warren is fighting for the values that american families care about, making se we all have an opportunity that our kids all have access to education, that medicare and medicaid are there for our liitwe n thend th t dference in the election and i believe strongly that elizabeth will do well in massachusetts in november. >> senator patty murray, thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. and developing now, on "andrea mitchell reports," we are watching the united naons nj nyahast l's pme mist arrived. he's expected to address the general assembly minutes from

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developing now, as you can sigh, njamin netanyahu, the prime minister of israel, just now taking the podium at the united nations. he will be we exp the last eakebe tta a l break. this is a much-awaited speech. and he is expected to talk principally about iran, but he may respond as well to what we heard earlier from the palestinian president abbas. prime minister netanyahu. tish delegates, ladies and gentlemen, 3,000 years ago king david reigned over the jewish state in our n fa eternal capital, jerusalem. i say that to all of those who proclaim that the jewish state

has no roots in our region and that it will soon disappear througut our history, the jewish people have overcome all the tie rans who have sought our destruction. it's their ideologies that have been discarded by history. theeoplef israel live on. we say in hebrew [ speaking foreign language ] and the jewish state will live forever. the jewish people have live in the land of israel for thousands of years. even after most of our people were exiled from it, jews continued toive in the land of israel toughtheages, and

the masses of our people never gave up the dream of returning to our ancient homeland, defying the laws of history, we did just . he t exiles, restored our independence and rebuild our national life. the jewish people have come home, we will never be uprooted again. yesterday was yom kippur, the holiest day othe jewish year. every year for over three millennia we havome the onhis day of reflection and atonement. we take stock of our past. we pray for our future.

we remember, we remember the sorrows of our persecution. we remember the great travails of our dispersion. we mourn the extermination of a third of our people, 6 million, in t holocaust. but at the end of yom kippur we celebrate. we celebrate the rebirth of israel. we celebrate the heroism of our reo wit the indomitable dded courage of joshua, david, and the macabees of old. we celebrate the marvel of the flourishing modern jewish state. you seenrael, we walk the

same paths tread by our pate arcs, abraham, isaac and jacob. but we blaze new trails in science, technology, medicine, agriculture. in israel the past and the future find common ground. unfortunately, that's not the case in my othertr fo t great battle is being waged between the modern and the medial. the forces of modernity seek a ight future in which the rights of all are protected in whican erxpngit library is available in the palm of every child in which every life is sacred. the forces of medievalism seek a world in which women and

minorities are subjuga in whhwl is suppressed, and in which not life but death is glorified. these force clash around the globe. but nowhere more starkly than in the middle east. israel stands prolyit t forces of mod dernty. we protect the rights of all of our citizens, men and women, jews and arabs, muslims and christians, all are equal before the law. isra is also making the wld aete. our scientists winnow bell prizes. our know-how is in every cell phone and compute that you're using. we prevent hunger byrrigating iar rid lands in afric and recently i was deeply moved when

i visited one of our technological institutes in haifa and i saw a man paralyzed fromhestwn cp flight of stairs easily with the aid of israeli invention. israel's exceptional creativity is matched by the people's remarkable compassion. when disaster strikes anywhere in the world, in haiti, japan, a, turkey, elsewhere, israeli doctors are among the first on the scene performing life-saving surgeries. in the past year i lost both my fathnd father-in-law. in the same hospital wards where they were treated israeli doctors were treating palestinian arabs. in fact, every year thsands,

thounds amhe palestinian territories and arabs from throughout the middle east come to israel to be treated in israeli hospitals by israeli doctors. i know you're not going to hear that from speeches around this podium, but ts the truth. it's important to you are aware of this truth. and it's because israel cherishes life that israel cherishes peace and seeks peace. we seek to preserve our historic a hriea treaties with egypt and jordan. we seek to forge a durable peace with the palestinians. president abbas just spoke here. i say to him, and i say to you, won sve our conflict with libelist speeches at the u.n.

that's not the way to solve them. we won't solve o conflict with unilateral declarationsf stehoo wee to sit together, negotiate together, and reach a mutual compromise in which a demilitarized palestinian state recognizes the one and only jewish state. israel wants to see a middle east of progress and peace. we between see the three great ligions that sprang fthrom rregion, judaism, christiani christianity, islam, coexist in peace and mutual respect. yet the medieval forces of radical islam, whom you just saw storming the american embassies throughout tiddleahe

se this. they seek supremacy over all muslims. they are bent on world conquests they want to destroy israel, europe, america. they want to extinguish freedom. they want to end the modern world. now, militant islam has many branches from the rulers of iran with their revolutionary guards to al qaeda terrorists to the radical cells lurking in every part of the gle. but despite their differences, they're all rooted in the same bitter soil of intolerance. that intolerance is directed firs to their fellow muslims then tost, jews, buddhists, hindus, secular people. anyone who doesn't commit to

their unforgiving creed. they want to drag hanity back to an age of unquestiong dog na, unrelenting conflict. i'm sure of one thing. ultimately they will fail. ultimately, light will penetrate the darkness. we'veeen tha hn fo some 500 years ago the printing press helped pry a cloistered europe out of a dark age, and evtually ignorance gave way to enlightenment. so, too, aa cloist cloistered m east will yield to the irresistible power of freedom and technology. when thishappens, our region will be guided not by conspiracy but b reason and curiosity.

i think the relevant question is this. it's not whether this fa nattism will be defeated. it's how man lives will be lost before it'sdeated? we seen that happen before, too. some 70 yrs ago the world saw anotheranatic ideology bent on world conquest. th went down in flam, but no be it took millions of people with it. those who oppose that fanaticism waited too long to act. inhe end they triumphed,ut at a hour rirrific cost. we can't let it happen. the stake isn't merely the future of my country, it's stake is the future of the world and

nothing couldimperilurutur more than the arming of iran with nuclear weapons. to understand what the world would be like with a nuclear-armed iran, just imagine the world with a nuclear-armed al qaeda. now, it makes ltleferee whether these lethal weapons are in the hands of the world's most dangerous terrorism regime or the world's most dangerous terrorist organization. they're both fired by the same hatred. they're both driven b the same for violence. just look what the iranian regime has done up until now without nuclear weapons. in 2009 they brutally put down the otests, mass protests f dp democracy in their own kuncount.

today their henchmen are participating in thousands of slaught ers of syrian civilians including thousands of children. they abetted the killing of american soldiers inra and coue tdo in afghanistan. before that iranian proxies killed hundreds of american troops in beirut and in saudi arabia. they've turnedebanon and gaza into terror songholimbedded a hundred missiles and rockets in civilian areas. thousands of these rockets and missiles have already been fired at israeli communities by their terrorist proxies. in the last year they've spread their interon terror oro two dozen countries across five continents from indian thailand to kenya and bulgaria. they've even plotted to blow up a restaurant a few blocks from

aom.ite ho iorder to kill of course, iran's rulers repeatedly deny the holocaust and call for israel's destruction almost on a daily basis as they did again this week from the general -- from the united nations. so i ask you, given this record of iranian aggression without nuclear weapons, just imagine iranian aggression with nucle weapons. imagine their long-range missiles tipped with nuclear warhea warheads, their terror networks armed withtomic bombs. who among you would feel safe in the middle east? who would be safe in europe? who would be safe in america?

who would be safe ywhere? now, there are those who believe that a eaarmera c be deterred like the soviet union. that's a very dangerous assumption. militant jihadists are not secular muslims. militant jis behave very differently from secular ma markists. there were no soviet suicide bombers, yet iran produces hoards of them. deterrents worked wit the soviets because every time the soviets faced a chis between their ideology and survival, they chose their survival. but deterrents may not work with the iranians once they get nuclear weapons. there's a great sch oe

middle east, professor bernard lewis who put it best. he said that for the ayatollahs of iran, mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent, it's anducent. iran's apock liptic leaders believe that a medieval holy man will reappear in the wake of a deadly holy war, thereby ensuring their brand of radical islam will rule the earth. that's not justt t believe. that's what's actually guiding their policies and actions. just listen to the itall la who said i quote the use of one nuke ar bomb inside israel will destroy everything. hover, iwoon h t islamic world. he said it is not irrational to

contemplate such an eventuality. not irrational. that's comes from swuld so-called moderates from iran. shockingly some people have begun to peddle the notion that a clarra would actually stabilize the middle east. that's like saying a nuclear armed al qaeda wld usher in an era of universalal peace. ladies and gentlemen, i've been speaking abouthe needo prevent iran from developing nurpo for over 15 years. i spoeke about it in my first term in office as israeli prime minister. i ske about it when i left office. i spoke about it when iwas faionae anokou when it wasn't fashionable. i speak about it now because the

hour is getting late, very late. i speak about it now because the iranian nuclear calendar dsn't take time out for anyone or for ythi. i speak about it now because when it comes to the survival of my country, it's not only my right to speak, it's my duty to speak. [ applause ] i believe that this is the duty of every responsible leader who nts to preserve world peace. for nearly a de t rnnal community has tried to stop the iranian nuclear program with diplomacy. well, that hasn't worked. iran uses diplomatic